It's Not Just Corrupt Spending, It's Spending

From Tony Phyrillas

Naming Names: Rep. David Kessler

A good example is Rep. David R. Kessler, D-130th Dist., who won the seat held for 20 years by Republican Dennis Leh by promising residents of Eastern Berks County that he would go to Harrisburg to fight for tax relief.

Kessler abandoned his promise the moment he got to the state Capitol. He sold out to corrupt leadership and has been one of the biggest disappointments so far in the freshman class of 2006.

If you're a member of the Daniel Boone Taxpayers Association or the Oley Concerned Citizens, or live in the following Berks County communities -- Amity, Colebrookdale, Douglass, Earl, Exeter (Districts 01, 03, 06 and 07), Oley, Pike, Rockland, Ruscombmanor and Union, Birdsboro, Boyertown, Fleetwood -- the No. 1 priority in 2008 should be to replace David Kessler with someone who will stand with taxpayers, not stab them in the back.

Let's all name names and do profiles on these elected officials who see no problem with betraying their voters.

Harrisburg Hoedown - March Of The Shakesperean Soldiers

The partisan angst over Speaker Dennis O'Briens election is not only not over, it is roiling and boiling in the ego-centers of both (?) parties. The party of the right agrees with the party of the left that Mo Money Blues is a tune they can't hear, especially when a taxpayer is humming it, because making money while spending money on the taxpayer's needs is a good thing, at least to the Harrisburg crowd. To stop making money while spending money smacks of honesty which implies reform. YUCK.


Big Ed keeps finding new ways to spend our money and he demands that any increase be "paid" for first. [Ed. note, if you are looking for the bridge classifieds (sale/purchase), please visit our new site www.rendellsuckersales/legisdivision/Rep/Dem/etal.gov] The Old Bulls in the House and the Senate have fired the cleaning project crew hired last November though the House keeps it at least part-time to humor the Speaker and others truly interested in reform. The Old Bulls want reform like Mary wants a little wolf, its fleece right under your nose.


Sometimes the barn just ain't big enough for all the Old Bulls at once. Especially when an Old Bull wanna-be tries to break down the door.


Enter Prince Keith R. McCall, Democrat, Carbon County, aka, the man who inherited his heralded legislative seat and is a minor machiavel hoping to be a major machiavel.


Of the ruling families, Prince Perzel had the power and squandered it through hamfisted stupidity and greed while seemingly patient and magnanimous twin, Prince DeWeese, attempted lemonade out of the lemons Duke Caltagirone gave him in the name of compromise, but the twin's public smile masked their anger. Without fully understanding the Court, their duplicitous ethics coincidently benefitted the common people in the emergence of a minor Prince O'Brien who truly loved the law and the people.


As all the Princes of the Court had done before them, the Princes before O'rien had sought favor with the realm through stability, albeit the stability of favors doled by power that rested in the hands of the few, but the new Prince disgruntled the very bowels of those who "deserved" the power with ideals of reform.


Ever since childhood Johnny and Billy shared, traded and fought over the spoils of their world and now Sir John and Sir William schemed and planned to make the new Prince and all of his lofty ideas disappear. Laughing with one side of their face while a haunting scowl disfigured the other the Princes plotted against the interloper in their world and against each other for one to regain power over the other. They never saw the darkness growing in the hinterlands. It grew as a gray becoming a carbon black cloud just under the horizon.


Every Prince should know the currents of the wind in the lofty towers of power as well as the dark unpleasant currents of the sewers down below. They should, if for no other reason, know in case the winds of misfortune blow them off the tower because their knowledge will tell them which way to swim. A prince who ignores his wind vane will no longer be major domo of his House.


A machiavel character is the most predictable character of any stage of state. There have been those well played and there have been those hardly played at all, but all seek the staring role for themselves. A well played machiavel will read the winds, look for weakness, seek to turn a strength against and sense opportunity to better themself. The true machiavel wants as much of a perfect storm combining his prey's weakness and trouble with his own opportunity to gain.


The Machivellian Harrisburg Hoedown has begun.


The cast:
Prince John Perzel: Former Lord of Fishtown
Prince William DeWeese: Former Knave of Mendacious
Duke Keith McCall: Former Lord of Lansford

Murtha Flip Flops - Stabs Pelosi In Back

Murtha's comments on 'surge' are a problem for House Democrats

Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), one of the leading anti-war voices in the House Democratic Caucus, is back from a trip to Iraq and he now says the "surge is working." This could be a huge problem for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democratic leaders, who are blocking approval of the
full $200 billion being sought by President Bush for combat operations in Iraq in 2008.

Murtha's latest comments are also a stark reversal from what he said earlier in the year. The Pennsylvania Democrat, who chairs the powerful Defense Subcommittee on the House Appropriations Committee, has previously stated that the surge "is not working" and the
United States faced a military disaster in Iraq.

We know Black Jack cashes his own checks, but without Pelosi and her handlers who was going to do his thinking for him when he screwed up and admitted this?

No Wonder Perzel (Prezel) Wants 10,000 Cops In Philly

Perzel's son is arrested

Samuel Perzel, son of state Rep. John M. Perzel, R-Philadelphia, was arrested last week for allegedly assaulting a female Philadelphia police officer.

Perzel, 18, was in a rowdy crowd of 50 to 75 people who had gathered on 2nd Street near Tasker in South Philadelphia about midnight Nov. 18, according to police records obtained by the Daily News.

Police were called to the intersection to break up several small fights and to move the crowd along.

When Officer Melissa Curcio tried to arrest Perzel after he ignored repeated arnings to disperse, the teen - who "had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath" - allegedly punched Curcio in the face, the records show.

Curcio, who is stationed in the 3rd District in South Philly, ultimately got Perzel onto the ground and in handcuffs, according to the records.

Perzel was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and recklessly endangering another person.

I wonder where he learned to act like that and have such disdain for the law??????

Love is a Many-Vendored Thing in Harrisburg

We all had an interesting e-mail from a friend in Harrisburg this morning. It was ironic in that the e-mail was about e-mail and our fearless leaders in the State Legislature that are leading us down a primrose path to protect themselves from love and love lost.

Everyone should have an apartment or a love nest in Harrisburg. In fact maybe we should rename Harrisburg Virginia because Harrisburg, it seems, is for lovers.

Scuttlebutt is that legislators could be talked into open records going forward in time including not only voting results, but also what they voted on, ie, the bills. What a concept, voters knowing what their legislators are voting on and how they voted. Maybe when Pennsylvania grows up we can be like other states and know where our reps stand on issues.

Rumor has it that the kids in the capital might even allow the common folk to look at spending, taxes and entitlements before they're voted on. Some wag even suggested this info could be on the Internet. Of course we all said in unison, "Yeah, right".

This could all happen for the future, but there is no way any of this will be retroactive. The Democrats can shred records faster than a speeding bullet and the Republicans can run from a vote or position even faster, but e-mail is for ever, which many of the kids in the House and the Senate have found out. And boy are they scared.

It seems that many of those who serve us may also serve others in a more private way while serving us in other "sessions". And the e-mails could provide a a trail of evidence to the pompatous of love in Harrisburg. A virtual Pocono on the Susquehanna with heart shaped beds and lots of give aways.

We can just hear some of the old boys, as they leave a long hard day at the capital, humming;

"I really love your peaches want to shake your tree, lovey dovey, lovey dovey...".

Not all the time, don't you know. Just when they're in session which is why we will never have a sunshine law that is retroactive or so it seems.

Instead of a full time legislature and part-time loves maybe we need exactly the opposite. It would cost everyone less money.

e-mails are forever, not just diamonds.

BONUSGATE SURPRISE Not

18 years, 18 months, 18 weeks, 18 days, 18 hours or 18 minutes, How long have the illegalities gone on? Maybe only Rose Mary Woods knows, but I'd bet that Bill DeWeese might know about the additional 1/2 a minute a destruction order can take.

Democratic caucus trashed files, sources say

Internal House Democratic Caucus documents were shredded as a grand jury investigation was under way late this summer, according to several independent Capitol sources.

The documents are believed to include personnel records that might be pertinent to Attorney General Tom Corbett's investigation of whether legislative staffers were paid bonuses for political work, sources say.

A Democratic legislator, who asked not to be named, said he heard "20 to 30 boxes" that included "leave slips and comp time" records were shredded.

House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, who says he is cooperating with Corbett's investigation, did not respond for comment last night through his
spokesman.

As we have said over and over, reform cannot be gotten from the "old bulls" of the legislature. The "old bulls" have controlled the money and the flow of money for as long as most people can remember. The destruction of these files was not a mistake. It was deliberative. The destruction was not ordered by some new guy like Denny O'Brien or a wet nosed kid from Scranton. The order came from the top, but which head on this two-headed bull gave the order, Democrat or Republican or both. They share the same old dirty bed.

Bitchen To The Right Of Me, Bitchen To The Left...

John Baer Returning lawmakers have their hands full

"Reform's not dead," House Speaker Denny O'Brien tells me, "it's only wounded." Yeah, well, I'd say critically wounded, in need of instant resuscitation. One place to start? Pay back the bonus money to the General Fund.

"Reform is dead", "Reform? It'll never happen", They'll reform like last time which was no reform in no time". Everybody has a bitch and everybody loves to whine, but nobody wants to help what could be the last hope for reform for a long while. That help is House Speaker Dennis O'Brien.

The guy is going to get knifed big time. Perzel, Smith, DeWeese and all of Brutus' other buddies are already lined up with their knives sharpened. Rendell is in charge of the sharpening.

DeWeese wants what he believes should be his. Perzel wants what he believes is his and will be for ever. Smith just whines about party loyalty as if he knows what that is. Rendell doesn't really give a damn as long as whoever it is gives him what he wants which is more money than the citizens of Pennsylvania possess.

O'Brien knew this, but hoped that reform would move legislators forward because the citizenry was fed up. He may not have been everybody's choice, but when the void was there he stepped forward. He saw the knives. he had no illusions.

He was wrong.

Reformers to the left bitched that he wasn't a Democrat. Reformers to the right bitched he was a puppet to DeWeese and Rendell. The rest just bitched because that is what they have always done. What O'Brien knew was that the "old bulls" were going to fight him every inch of the way and hurt him as much as they could. The reformers snatched their moment of sun in the press and faded away. The rest, like most forum watchers, sat back to enjoy the show. O'Brien's hope lay with the people.

He was wrong.

The people, except for a few, did little or nothing except bitch, pontificate and point out how they could do things better. They did nothing. Well that's not true, people voted a lot of people out of office. No follow up, just pulled a lever and considered their job done.

A legislature as hide bound and corrupt as ours is going to take some time to change. Baby steps, if you will, for the fat self serving porkers in office. Any activity more vigorous might cause them to trip over their money bags and cause injury.

We are wrong.

O'Brien doesn't just talk the talk like most in Harrisburg. He is considered dangerous because he walks the walk which means he is extremely dangerous because he is a believer and is passionate about his beliefs.

We here at ProPenn do not agree with Speaker O'Brien on many things, but we agree with his reforms. In fact we demand his reforms and are working for them in a positive fashion.

Do you care to stop bitching long enough to join the hard work of daily helping reform our legislature.

If so, do so. If not, kindly be quiet.

Perzel Pushing Empty Promises As Usual

The Maître d' now Major Domo emeritus of the House has his hair slicked back and a snappy little towel over his forearm and his shoes are a little bit more shiney than usual for the latest round of "screw the senior citizens" and the rest of Pennsylvania.

Tony Phyrillas: Empty promises on tax relief

What do Rep. John Perzel's "Older Pennsylvanian Property Tax Elimination Act" and Rep. Jay Moyer's "Senior Property Tax Freeze Bill" have in common?

Both measures are the latest attempts by elected officials to fool senior citizens (who are the most consistent voters) into giving Pennsylvania lawmakers another free pass on the property tax issue. The shell game has been going on for 30 years.

Lawmakers promise to tackle property tax reform in Harrisburg, but break
their promises to the voters as soon as they get into office. When voters start
threatening to kick out the career politicians, the legislators come up with
various schemes to address property taxes.

It's a vicious cycle that can only come to end with the passage of the School Property Tax Elimination Act of 2007 or the ouster of the majority of the current Legislature.

Unfortunately this means if Perzel is once again putting us (the little folk) at the crappyist seats in the place. How much of a secret tip should we have given him to get a decent seat? Just look at the good tables, the ones average citizens can't even hope for, and you'll see the lobbyists, gamblers, Harrisburg hotshots, Philadelphia pukes and Perzel's buddies. They get the biggest breaks and the best seats because they gave the biggest tips, but they didn't buy them, they just rented them. Perzel is smart that way.

TABOR Tames Taxes or What Harrisburg Hates

This has also been called Stopped Over Spending (SOS). Unions, Democrats and pork lovers HATE SOS or TABOR.

Tony Phyrillas: Who would oppose taxpayer rights?

What person in their right mind would oppose TABOR, the Taxpayers Bill of Rights?

How about people who benefit from keeping taxes high? Namely, unionized teachers and government workers.

The more taxes working people pay to government, the higher salaries and benefits can be paid to teachers and government workers.

On Wednesday, Oct. 10, the Coalition for Common Sense Priorities (that sounds so much nicer than "government moochers") is holding a free seminar at a union hall in Harrisburg to educate interested parties (teachers' unions and government workers) how to prevent TABOR from coming to Pennsylvania.

TABOR is a set of constitutional provisions Colorado voters adopted in 1992 to limit revenue growth for state and local governments in Colorado and to require that any tax increase in any state or local government (counties, cities, towns, school districts and special districts) must be approved by the voters of the affected government, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures Web site.

A friend from Nebraska said that every union, government group and other Democrats lied through their teeth to defeat this. Parents with small children and older people were warned in TV ads, in newspapers, by firemen, by police unions, by emergency squads and by politicians that they would be left out in the cold and probably die if SOS or TABOR was passed.

Lower taxes, cut government and throw the bums out. That's my TABOR as in a sabre we all should use on Harrisburg.

Murtha Joins Liberals Against The Surge & Petraeus

Though there has been an excess of attacks creating massive press coverage, the surge against the surge in Iraq appears to have failed, at least for now. Through attacks in major metropolitan areas such as LA, New York and especially Washington DC the rebels and their allies in the press had hoped to galvanize a majority of citizens to ignore reality and turn against further military involvement in Iraq. Even though the surge appears to have faltered, critics point to weak government progressiveness and an ineffectual political process by the American Congress as the likely culprit.

Despite critics, Congress went on a month long vacation after failing to reconcile partisan differences and to address the unwillingness of different factions to work together to form a functioning coalition that could drive the government to make some identifiable progress. Many Representatives of the far left coalition have stopped even appearing to work with Congressional leaders further opening a deep rift among anti-surge surgists pointing out that attacks against the administration have increased almost daily and the administration is unable to stop them pointing to a need for a new direction in Washington.

Leading anti-surge Democrat Rep. John Murtha of the Pennsylvania province has recommended that redeploying pro-surge surgists to a neutral corner could clear the way to “real political” progress in the fight. Anti-surge surgists point to the current administration’s continual need to address the realities of Iraq as proof that the surge has failed.

“The administration is aggressively engaged in shifting (public) attitudes. And our side has been less aggressive than it needs to be,” said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake. “The administration has been making inroads on their Iraqi argument, particularly linking it to terrorism.”

Others in the anti-surge surge coalition have aggressively grasped for the gravitas needed to make failure a reality. Noting the public’s uneasiness with facts, Illinois province Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the anti-surge surge coalition, said Wednesday, “As our coalition show some progress, the government of this nation is moving in the opposite direction. This is really unsustainable with the American people.”

Many anti-surgists have pointed to the provinces, such as the uncontrollable corn-belt provinces, as dangerous and out of control. “We’ve failed miserably there. Those provinces are lost,” stated an anonymous aide, but they noted some success in urban areas such as Chicago, but admitting that Kansas City was lost, stating, “It will always be the wild west out there. What are you going to do?”

Michael Flourney, a former Pentagon defense strategist and now president of the Center for a New American Security, said that “The clock in Washington is running down pretty fast. There’s sort of a wall next March-April.” Bush recently extended tours of duty from 12 months to 15 months and the anti surge surgists were impotent to get a surge against the surge up and running.

Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute, a Virginia-based think tank that follows defense issues, cites “significant progress” on the pro-surge front noting that, “There’s a backlash” against the anti-surge surgists noting a lessening of attacks in the belt around Washington, DC.

“The problem is that nobody in the United States sees any significant progress on the political front. The factions in the government don’t seem to be able to get along. And that makes Congress wonder whether we’re making any real progress. Because, even with better security, the country can’t figure out how to take care of itself.”

Reports from the capitol and from various provinces, including Massachusetts, California and Oregon have shown that anti-surge surgists and allied insurgents plan a “long hot August” culminating in massive attacks prior to General Petraeus’ testimony concerning the surge. A spokesperson for a small but violent group named Surge Haters In Texas, stated “Patraeus is a lackey for the administration and they have gone to great lengths to kill Iraqi freedom fighters just to make this surge look successful. We’re not buying that sh*t.”

PA Bonusgate warrants served in the House in Harrisburg

Certain pols in Harrisburg better have sun glasses because the sun is about to shine where they don't want it to, on them and all the bonuses they gave out willy nilly using our tax money.

Rumor has it that deals are being attempted as we speak and that certain pols will be shielded.

More later.

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